Durban - A women’s rights group has petitioned the Department of Justice and Correctional Services, calling for Oscar Pistorius to remain in custody.
The Progressive Women’s Movement of South Africa said in a letter addressed to Minister Michael Masutha it opposed the paralympic gold medallist’s release on parole during Women’s Month.
Pistorius was sentenced to five years in prison for shooting dead his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. He was also sentenced to three years with five suspended for a separate incident where he accidentally discharged a firearm in a restaurant.
“We are deeply concerned about the news that the prison’s Parole Board has approved an unsolicited placement of Oscar Pistorius under correctional supervision with effect from August 21, 2015… This decision of the Parole Board is outrageous and an affront to the aim of Women’s Month,” said the group.
They said Pistorius’s release during August was “double jeopardy” to women who were under the siege of violence.
“The greatest scourge of our beautiful country is violence, especially violence against women and children. The government has developed laws and programmes to address this scourge; however this has not led to a sustained behavioural and societal change.”
Instead, they said, violence against women “continued unabated” because the criminal justice system disregarded the extent and impact of violence, especially violence against women and children.
“The criminal justice system promotes the rights of male perpetrators above the rights of all others and in the application of the law, double standards are followed. Therefore, the application of laws and structures such as the judiciary, the parole board and other role players within the criminal justice system, must change.”
The organisation also asked for a report on the race and gender of the committee which prepared the profiles for the board to recommend parole.
Daily News